The present invention relates to drawer slides.
A variety of drawer slides have been developed for slidably mounting a drawer within a cabinet to facilitate movement of the drawer, especially when heavily loaded. Additionally, the slides provide linear movement of the drawer to prevent the drawer from "dropping" when extended out of the cabinet. Detents and stops are often incorporated into the slide both to secure the drawer in its closed position and to prevent the drawer from being inadvertently removed from the cabinet.
Most typically, the slide apparatus comprises a pair of assemblies mounted on opposite sides of the drawer between the drawer and the cabinet. However, this design has several disadvantages. First, the drawer slides are visible and somewhat unsightly when the drawer is pulled open. Second, the location of the drawer slides requires that the drawer be significantly narrower than the cabinet opening, reducing the volume of the drawer. Third, the drawer tends to shift laterally on the rails during drawer movement such that the drawer is often slightly skewed in the cabinet.
Some prior drawer slides include a cabinet channel fixedly secured within the cabinet, and a rotatable roller carried by the drawer and riding in the channel to support the drawer within the cabinet. Often, this drawer roller is supported on a corner bracket secured to and reinforcing a drawer corner. Prior brackets require excessive material in their fabrication due to the fact that, although a relatively thin gauge material is adequate to reinforce the drawer corner, a relatively heavy gauge material must be used to provide support for the drawer roller. Additionally, known cabinet channels include a generally vertical lateral guide surface against which the drawer roller bears while riding in the cabinet channel. The relatively large contact area between the roller and the vertical surface creates friction, increasing the force required to move the drawer and creating noise during drawer movement.
Further, in known slides, each cabinet channel is typically supported in the cabinet on front and rear mounting brackets at the front and rear portions of the cabinet. The rear bracket reduces the possible length of the drawers mounted on the slides because drawer clearance must be provided at the rear of the cabinet to accommodate the bracket. Second, channels including known rear brackets do not readily adapt to cabinets of slightly varying depth.